Following England batter Harry Brook’s statement that they will look to put India on the back foot early on Day 4 of the Birmingham Test with quick wickets and go for the win, former English captain and now a cricket pundit Michael Vaughan does not see India collapsing on a batting-friendly Edgbaston pitch.
“India are brought up on these kind of wickets. I can’t see them collapsing tomorrow, they aren’t going to give them anything. They’ve dominated completely other than about three hours today,” said Vaughan to the BBC.
“The one concern I would have is that India had much more movement with the new ball. From what I’ve seen now, England have to get a little bit of seam into their action because it’s a flat pitch,” he added.
Brook said England is confident of chasing down any total set by the Indian team in the second Test. India ended Day 3 of the second Test (Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy) with a healthy 244-run lead over England with nine wickets left on Friday.
“I still think we can win this Test match, to be honest. I believe if we take a couple of early wickets tomorrow and put them under pressure and hopefully they can crumble up there and everybody knows in the world that we are going to try and chase whatever they set us, so we’ll see how they play,” said Brook to BBC after his marathon 303-run partnership with wicketkeeper batter Jamie Smith.
Former England bowler Steven Finn has suggested the Indian batters to play the first session with caution before taking advantage of the surface: “If I was inside in the India dressing room just play that first session, be cautious and don’t let England get wind in their sails with early wickets. Then you can have fun as a batter,” said Finn.
“They might have one eye on the weather, but I’m not sure they will be brave enough to make a declaration. They will be wary of Headingley and what happened here last time. However, if they bowl well they have a great opportunity to win the Test and make it 1-1,” he added.
